Temperatures soared in the San Joaquin and Eastern Coachella Valleys this past month, shattering previous heat records. However, breaking heat records is nothing new these days because of the effects of climate change. Year after year, vulnerable people throughout California face the dangerous impacts of extreme heat. And year after year, California decision makers fall short of making the decisions and investments necessary to protect communities from the worsening crisis of extreme heat. 

The time for urgent action is past due. Vulnerable communities deserve more than empty proclamations of more protections for extreme heat in the future. We urge California decision makers to protect the health and well-being of communities in the San Joaquin and Eastern Coachella Valleys.

Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature must restore critical funding for the Strategic Growth Council’s Community Resilience Center program — which received no new funding in the 2024–25 budget and was not included in the climate bond. Community leaders facing extreme heat, consistent and long-lasting power outages, drought, and devastating floods fought for the creation of the Climate Resilience Centers program to ensure residents have access to trusted community spaces that provide much needed relief during times of crisis and year-round programming to support climate resilience. In just the first and only round of funding, demand for support for critical facilities was seven times more than the funding available. Only 24 communities out of 189 applicants received funding, and now there is no additional money for the program despite what is clearly a great need. 

Additionally, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released a recent report on a maximum safe indoor air temperature standard and policy recommendations to help all residential dwellings maintain this temperature. Unfortunately, it only connects the maximum safe indoor air temperature threshold to a proposed new-construction standard and fails to explicitly connect the threshold to existing residential dwellings. Additionally, the policy recommendations fail to protect low-income households. HCD must submit policy recommendations to the legislature by January 2025. Its final report should ensure that all new and existing single-family and multifamily residential buildings, including mobile homes and manufactured homes, can maintain a maximum safe indoor air temperature. The recommendations should also consider potential sources of funding, identify potential actions by a broad range of relevant state agencies, and be tailored to meet the needs of the most heat-vulnerable residents.

These immediate actions will provide long-lasting protections for vulnerable communities both now and in the future. At the same time, state and local leaders must take every opportunity to address extreme heat and support Californians in building resilience. We must continue to hold decision makers accountable. Join us in demanding more, demanding better, demanding what we deserve.